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Adam West
| Row 3 title = Birthplace | Row 3 info = Seattle, Washington, U.S. | Row 4 title = Roles known for | Row 4 info = Bruce Wayne/Batman in ABC-TV series Batman Voice of Mayor West on FOX-TV animated series Family Guy | Row 5 title = Occupation | Row 5 info = Actor, voice actor | Row 6 title = Years active | Row 6 info = 1954–present | Row 7 title = Spouses | Row 7 info = Billie Lou Yeager, 1950-1956 Frisbie Dawson, 1957-1962 Marcelle Tagand Lear, 1970-present | Row 8 title = Guest appearance on The Wayans Bros. | Row 8 info = as TV host in "The Black Widower" episode in Season 3 | Row 9 title = Website | Row 9 info = http://www.adamwest.com }} Adam West (born September 19, 1928) made a guest appearance on The Wayans Bros., appearing as a TV show host in the episode titled The Black Widower. He is well known for his role as Bruce Wayne in the 1960's ABC-TV series "Batman", and as the voice of Mayor West on the hit FOX-TV animated prime-time series Family Guy. Early life West was born William West Anderson in Seattle]], Washington to Otto West Anderson and Audrey V. Speer. The family moved to nearby Walla Walla, Washington after his younger brother John was born. He attended Walla Walla High School during his freshman and sophomore years, and later enrolled in Lakeside School in Seattle. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Literature and a minor in Psychology from Whitman CollegeInterview, Whitman Magazine, December 2006 in Walla Walla where he was a member of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity and participated on the speech and debate team. Career Early roles Later, while living in Hawaii, West picked a role as the sidekick on a children's show called El Kini Popo Show, which featured a chimp. West later took over as star of the show. In 1959, the actor moved to Hollywood and took the stage name Adam West. In his autobiography Back to the Batcave he explains that he chose 'Adam' simply because he liked the way it looked and sounded with 'West', his mother's maiden name. His close friends and family still call him "Bill". He appeared in the film The Young Philadelphians including Paul Newman, and guest-starred in a number of TV Westerns. He guest starred on Edmond O'Brien's syndicated crime drama Johnny Midnight]] and soon snagged a supporting role as police Detective Sgt. Steve Nelson in the crime drama, The Detectives Starring Robert Taylor. He made a few guest appearances on Perry Mason in the early 1960s. He portrayed Wild Bill Hickok in the episode "Westbound Stage" of the 1960 NBC Western series Overland Trail, with William Bendix and Doug McClure. On January 10, 1961, West appeared as a young ambitious deputy who foolishly confronts a gunfighter, Clay Jackson, portrayed by Jock Mahoney, in the episode "The Man from Kansas" of the NBC western series Laramie. Jackson is a "Robin Hood" masked gunslinger and bandit whose presence in Laramie brings Jess Harper and Slim Sherman (series characters played by Robert Fuller and John Smith) into conflict. Slim from the start had considered Jackson a cutthroat and is proved correct as the plot unfolds. West starred in an episode of the original Outer Limits television series titled "The Invisible Enemy". He made a brief appearance in the film Soldier in the Rain starring Jackie Gleason and Steve McQueen and starred as Major Dan McCready, the ill-fated mission commander of 'Mars Gravity Probe 1' in the 1964 film Robinson Crusoe on Mars. In 1965, he was cast in the comedy western The Outlaws Is Coming, the last feature film starring The Three Stooges. He played the character Christopher Rolf in the episode of American Broadcasting Company|ABC-TV's The Rifleman in the episode "Stopover", which aired on April 25, 1961. Batman TV series (1966-68) Producer William Dozier cast West as Bruce Wayne and his alter ego, Batman, in the television series Batman, in part after seeing West perform as the James Bond-like spy Captain Q in a Nestlé Quik television ad. West was in competition with Lyle Waggoner for the Batman role. The popular, campy action/comedy/crime-fighting show ran on ABC-TV from 1966 to 1968; a film version was released in 1966. In 1970, West was offered the role of James Bond by Cubby Broccoli for the film Diamonds Are Forever. West did not accept, later stating in his autobiography that he believed the role should always be played by someone British (despite the fact that an Australian, actor George Lazenby, had already played him). Voice-over work Having a distinctive voice, West built a career doing voice-over work on a number of animated series (often as himself), including appearances on The Simpsons, Rugrats, The Critic, The Boondocks, Histeria!, Kim Possible, Johnny Bravo and even in an episode of Batman: The Animated Series called "Beware the Gray Ghost", where he voiced the Gray Ghost. He also appeared in five episodes of Nickelodeon's cartoon, The Fairly OddParents, as a cat-obsessed version of himself who is famous for playing a superhero called Catman, and who actually believes he is Catman. Catman is a parody of his earlier character as Batman. A later appearance of Adam West in The Fairly OddParents world was a parody of himself, hired to play the role of the Crimson Chin in the movie of the same name. Yet another appearance on the show had him as himself in a Fairy-sponsored video about how to cope with losing ones fairy godparents. Since 2000, West has made regular appearances on the animated series Family Guy, on which he plays Mayor Adam West, the lunatic mayor of Quahog, Rhode Island. His role has given him a new wave of popularity since BatmanSee main article at Adam West (Family Guy), and lead writer Seth MacFarlane claims to have gone out of his way to avoid typecasting West by deliberately not making any references to Batman. Some of his latest voice-over performances were playing the role of Uncle Art in the Walt Disney Pictures film Meet the Robinsons, and voicing the young Mermaid Man (along with Burt Ward, who voiced the young Barnacle Boy) in the cartoon show SpongeBob SquarePants. Present career In 2010, a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs, California, their Walk of Stars was dedicated to him.Palm Springs Walk of Stars by date dedicated West received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on April 5, 2012. His star is located at 6764 Hollywood Blvd in front of the Guinness Museum in Hollywood, California. References External links * Adam West Official Website * * Adam West as Batman * Adam West interview in Dangerous Ink Magazine * Adam West gets back in the Batmobile * Adam West on Twitter Category:Guest stars